Williams began his career following in his famed father's footsteps, covering his father's songs and imitating his father's style. Williams' first television appearance was in a 1964 episode of ABC's The Jimmy Dean Show, in which at age fourteen he sang several songs associated with his father. Later that year, he was a guest star on Shindig!.
Williams' style evolved slowly as he struggled to find his own voice and place within country music. This was interrupted by a near-fatal fall off the side of Ajax Peak in Montana on August 8, 1975. After an extended recovery, he challenged the country music establishment with a blend of country, rock, and blues. As a multi-instrumentalist, Williams' repertoire of skills includes guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, dobro, piano, keyboards, saxophone, harmonica, fiddle, and drums.
From 1989 through October 2011, his song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight", refashioned as "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night", had been used to open broadcasts of Monday Night Football until it was pulled after Williams made controversial comments comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. The song returned to open the show in 2017.
On August 12, 2020, Williams was selected to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Williams' early career was guided, some say outright dominated, by his mother Audrey Williams, who many claim was the driving force that led his father to musical superstardom during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Audrey, in many ways, wished for young Hank to be nothing more than a "Hank Williams, Sr. impersonator", sometimes going as far as to have clothes designed for him that were identical to his father's stage clothes and vocal stylings very similar to those of his father.
Although Williams' recordings earned him numerous country hits throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, he became disillusioned with his role as a 'Hank Williams clone' and severed ties with his mother in order to pursue his own musical direction and tastes. After recording the soundtrack to Your Cheatin' Heart, a biography of his father, Williams, Jr. hit the charts with one of his own compositions, "Standing in the Shadows". The song signalled a move to rock and roll and other influences as he stepped from the shadow of his father.
Also during this time, Williams had his first two No. 1 songs: "All For the Love of Sunshine" (1970, featured on the soundtrack to Kelly's Heroes) and "Eleven Roses" (1972).
By the mid-1970s, Williams had finally found the musical direction that would, eventually, make him a superstar. Williams' unique blend of traditional country with southern rock and blues earned him a devoted following, although some mainstream country radio stations wouldn't touch his new songs in this blatantly untraditional sound.
While recording a series of hit songs, Williams began abusing drugs, including alcohol and eventually tried to commit suicide in 1974. Moving to Alabama, Williams began playing music with Southern rock musicians Toy Caldwell, Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels, and others.
His last major success was "There's a Tear in My Beer", a duet with his father created using electronic dubbing techniques. The song itself was written by his father, presumably, sometime between 1950 and 1953 and was recorded with Hank Williams playing just his guitar. The music video for the song combined existing television footage of Hank Williams performing and the dubbing techniques transferred the image of Hank Jr. onto the screen, so it appeared as if he were actually playing with his father. The video was an overwhelming success, both critically and commercially. It was named Video Of The Year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country music. Hank Williams, Jr. would go on to win a Grammy award in 1990 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.
Despite his slumping album sales, Hank Williams Jr. continued to be a popular concert draw during the early 1990s and continued to record, with several of his recordings during this time still managing to achieve gold status, selling 500,000 copies.
He is probably best known today as the performer of the theme song for Monday Night Football, based on "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". The opening theme became a classic, as much a part of the show as the football itself. In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Williams' opening themes for Monday Night Football would earn him four Emmy awards.
Williams opened for Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006, on ABC and was in the stands as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
On April 10, 2006, CMT honored Williams with the Johnny Cash Visionary Award, presenting it to him at the 2006 CMT Music Awards.
On November 11, 2008, Williams was honored as a BMI Icon at the 56th annual BMI Country Awards. The artists and songwriters named BMI Icons have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers".
In 2011, Williams was named one of "Seven Living Legends" of his native Shreveport, Louisiana, by Danny Fox (1954–2014) of KWKH radio. Others named were Bob Griffin of KSLA and KTBS-TV and James Burton. Two others cited, Claude King and Frank Page, both died in 2013.
In 2015, Hank Williams Jr. was Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.
The Air that I Breathe
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Can't think of anything I need
No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound
Nothing to eat, no books to read
Making love with you
Has left me peaceful warm and tired
What more could I ask
There's nothing left to be desired
Sleep, silent angel go to sleep
Sometimes all I need
Is the air that I breathe
And to love you
Sometimes all I need
Is the air that I breathe
And to love you
Sometimes all I need
Is the air that I breathe
And to love you
In Hank Williams Jr.'s song "The Air That I Breathe," we see a speaker who seems to have reached a state of contentment in their life. The singer reveals that if they could make any wish, they would pass it up, because they cannot think of anything that they truly need. The lack of basic necessities, such as cigarettes, sleep, light, sound, and food, do not trouble them. The only thing that truly brings them peace is making love with their partner. This has left them feeling "peaceful warm and tired," and they feel that there is nothing left to desire in life. The peace that they have found in their relationship has even left them feeling weak. The singer tells their partner, who is referred to as a "sleep, silent angel," to go to sleep, seemingly indicating that they have found more than enough contentment to settle down and rest.
The chorus of the song echoes this sentiment of finding contentment in the simple things in life. The singer sings that, "Sometimes all I need/ Is the air that I breathe/ And to love you." The air that they breathe is a metaphor for the basic necessities of life, which they no longer feel a desire for because they have found happiness in just being with their partner. Thus, although the song seems to be about romantic love, it also reflects a deeper philosophical concept of finding contentment in the present moment and in the simple things in life.
Overall, "The Air That I Breathe" is a song about finding happiness and contentment in life. The singer has discovered that they do not need material possessions, and even basic necessities seem unimportant in comparison to the love they share with their partner. The song serves as a reminder to appreciate the simple things in life and to find happiness in the present moment.
Line by Line Meaning
If I could make a wish I think I'd pass
I am content and have no desires.
Can't think of anything I need
I have everything that I require.
No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound
I do not need any external stimulation or substances.
Nothing to eat, no books to read
Physical needs and mental stimulation do not matter to me.
Making love with you
Being intimate with you brings me a great sense of peace and fulfillment.
Has left me peaceful warm and tired
Being with you has brought me a sense of calmness, comfort, and exhaustion.
What more could I ask
I could not ask for anything more.
There's nothing left to be desired
I am completely satisfied.
Peace came upon me and it leaves me weak
The peace I feel is so intense that it weakens me.
Sleep, silent angel go to sleep
I am at such peace that I am now going to sleep.
Sometimes all I need
Occasionally, my desires are quite minimal.
Is the air that I breathe
All I need is the basic life necessity of air.
And to love you
And the love that I have for you brings me even greater satisfaction.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind